The Ice Caves

What Lies Beneath: In the New Mexico Badlands, a path carved by lava leads visitors from the Bandera Volcano to a cave where temperatures never reach above 31 degrees Fahrenheit. The ice floor is 20 feet thick and gives off an eerie green glow from the algae beneath.

How Did It Get There: No one knows how the formation began, but ice started accumulating in the spot some 3,400 years ago. Early settlers flocked to the “Desert Ice Box” with wagons filled with sawdust, so they could bring the ice home.

Cool Bonus: The local saloon, which at one time literally served iced cold beer, is now the Ice Caves Trading Company, with displays of 1,200-year-old stone tools used by the Anasazi Indians.

The Ice Caves

What Lies Beneath: In the New Mexico Badlands, a path carved by lava leads visitors from the Bandera Volcano to a cave where temperatures never reach above 31 degrees Fahrenheit. The ice floor is 20 feet thick and gives off an eerie green glow from the algae beneath.

How Did It Get There: No one knows how the formation began, but ice started accumulating in the spot some 3,400 years ago. Early settlers flocked to the “Desert Ice Box” with wagons filled with sawdust, so they could bring the ice home.

Cool Bonus: The local saloon, which at one time literally served iced cold beer, is now the Ice Caves Trading Company, with displays of 1,200-year-old stone tools used by the Anasazi Indians.